An assistant principal who resigned just weeks into the job has written a harshly worded letter questioning new Southbridge Middle/High School Principal Tammy M. Perreault’s “competency and moral compass.”

Sharon Goulet asserted that Ms. Perreault has developed a “self-centered need for immediate obedience.”

Her exit letter, which was obtained by the Telegram & Gazette, also said Ms. Perreault had “developed a reactive, narcissistic, and a pathological egoistic self-interest that drives unprofessional decisions that overall hurts morale, the well-being and progress of the entire learning community at SMHS.”

Ms. Perreault was appointed principal of the new school on Torrey Road in August. She was promoted from district director of mathematics by Superintendent Eric D. Ely.

When Mr. Ely appointed her, she held only a principal license for Grades 5 to 8. But she had met all of the requirements to lead Grades 9 to 12, and a week later she had submitted the necessary paperwork to the state to become a high school principal.

Reading a statement, Ms. Woodruff said Mr. Ely had retained an outside lawyer to make an inquiry into the allegations.

“We are confident that by referring the matter to an independent investigator, we will obtain an unbiased opinion about the allegation,” she said. “The School Committee emphasizes that these are allegations only, and that it has no evidence to support them at this time. The administrator continues to perform the duties of the position, and we ask everyone to reserve judgment until further information is obtained in this matter.”

Mr. Ely said the letter was being taken seriously.

Ms. Goulet, who left the assistant principal job for a special education supervisor’s position in Ludlow, did not return a phone message yesterday.

Ms. Perreault said the letter was the first she’d heard about Ms. Goulet’s concerns.

“We all worked so closely together and we’re such a strong team, that this came as a complete shock to me,” Ms. Perreault said in an interview. “I wish she had brought some of these concerns to me because we could have addressed them. But as I’ve always told all the staff, all the time, I support her. She was an incredibly valuable tool for SMHS, and I wish her well.”

Ms. Goulet wrote that Ms. Perreault’s lack of leadership training is evident.

“It is my belief that she did not complete a principal internship with either of the previous administrators at the middle or high school,” the departed assistant wrote. “I question the fraudulent licensure and the integrity of the supervising practitioner who signed off on her license.”

Ms. Perreault called the allegation slanderous.

“I have worked very, very hard under a highly qualified and admired principal in a previous district to get the training that I have.” Before taking the Southbridge mathematics job earlier this year, Ms. Perreault had been a math teacher in a Chicopee middle school.

Ms. Perreault said she accrued more training hours than what the state requires.

Ms. Goulet also wrote that Ms. Perreault “has unprofessionally and without evidence questioned the integrity and competency of all three of her assistant principals on many occasions both publicly and privately.”

Ms. Goulet said she witnessed Ms. Perreault “publicly humiliate teachers, secretaries, custodians, the school resource officer, school and district administrators in a threatening and hostile voice tone.”

An email message seeking to confirm or deny the allegations was not returned by the head of the teachers’ union.

In the letter, Ms. Goulet asserted she was not offered an exit interview.

“I met with her personally about two weeks before she left for over a half-hour,” Mr. Ely said. “She never mentioned one negative thing about being an employee of our district or about the middle-high school or Ms. Perreault.”

Amid the growing pains of a new building with a staff that had never worked together, the year is off to a good start, Mr. Ely said.

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